About Me

I was a reporter and columnist for 40 years for a chain of newspapers in the suburbs of Chicago. I'm a military veteran having served in the United States Army Combat Engineers (Cpl. E-4) and a Korean War veteran with an Honorable Discharge from the Armed Forces of the United States of America

Tuesday, June 8, 2010

The warning alarm has sounded and Kandahar Hospital goes into complete preparations to receive the wounded that will be arriving shortly from the battlefield. Kandahar is the Taliban stronghold and it is expected the fight for control of Kandahar is going to be bitter and bloody.TURN UP YOUR SOUNDWATCH VIDEO HERE:http://www.youtube.com/v/9B2rYvi7ZZY&hl=en_US&fs=1&rel=0

KABUL, Afghanistan - Three more NATO troops were killed in Afghanistan on Tuesday, the military said, extending a spike of bloodshed into a second day and pushing the death toll for foreign forces in the country to 24 in little more than a week.

The latest deaths, including at least two Americans, came as insurgents step up bombings and other attacks ahead of a major NATO operation in the Taliban stronghold of Kandahar that Washington hopes will turn the tide of the nearly 9-year-old war.

Monday was the bloodiest day this year for international forces in Afghanistan, when seven American troops, two Australians and a French Legionnaire were killed in five separate insurgent attacks in the south and east of the country. Two civilian contractors training police, an American and a Nepalese, also died in a brazen suicide attack Monday in the southern city of Kandahar.NATO said two service members were killed Tuesday in a makeshift bomb blast in southern Afghanistan, and the U.S. military confirmed they were Americans.

NATO said later that another service member was killed Tuesday in small arms fire in southern Afghanistan. No further details were given.

KABUL, Afghanistan — Seven American troops, two Australians and a French Legionnaire were killed in the bloodiest day this year for international forces in Afghanistan. A U.S. contractor training Afghan police also died in a brazen suicide attack. http://tiny.cc/tq7dgThe bloodshed Monday came as insurgents step up bombings and other attacks ahead of a major NATO operation in the Taliban stronghold of Kandahar that Washington hopes will turn the tide of the nearly nine-year-old war.Half the NATO deaths - five Americans - occurred in a single blast in eastern Afghanistan, U.S. spokesman Col. Wayne Shanks said without giving further details. It was a grim reminder the insurgents can strike throughout the country - not simply in the south, which has become the main focus of the U.S. campaign.Two other U.S. troops were killed in separate attacks in the south - one in a bombing and the other by small arms fire.